Have Technology and Multitasking Re-Wired the Ways Students Learn?

Based on Maya's article posting: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzbXQdE3mhMndmdrU2VrV3lPV3c/view

I incorporate technology into my Talented Theatre classes on a daily basis. My three Title I schools have received grants to purchase instructional equipment such as microphones, light boards, theatre Parnell lights, and soundboards. When casting any show, some students audition for my cast, while others beg to be crew members who open the stage curtain, run the boards, stage manage, etc. I am also a strong proponent of using videos as exemplars of outstanding work. I utilize Youtube and BlueGobo.com to show students different speeches, accents, and clips from plays and musicals. Recently, my students completed a playwriting unit entirely on computers, improving their keyboarding skills. We also use computers when analyzing/reviewing/critiquing peer work. Finally, I always start class with an improvised scene and use a stopwatch to time student progress.

As the article indicated, students need working memory space to accommodate multimedia and technology in the classroom. Therefore, teachers that incorporate technology have to account for students' individual differences in working memory capacities. As Zadina states in Chapter 3, students with a lower capacity may experience anxiety when this capacity is overloaded. Teachers should use a variety of modalities in teaching and allow for varied modalities for students to express what they have learned. Additionally, based on research about the brain's plasticity, teachers incorporating small doses of technology and scaffolding students may actually see a genuine improvement in students' working memory.

-Jamie Hipp